Arhivele Totalitarismului (Totalitarianism Archives) is a peer-reviewed academic journal published
by the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism of the RomanianAcademy.
Totalitarianism Archives publishes original papers, conceptual
framework, case studies, and book reviews on the topics of totalitarianism and
totalitarian regimes in Romania, Europe and elsewhere. Totalitarianism Archives
is abstracted in EBSCO and CEEOL databases.
We are currently calling for papers for volumes 1-2, 3-4 to be
published in Fall 2012.
Senior scholars, researchers, PhD students and postdoctoral students
are strongly encouraged to submit multidisciplinary papers on one of the
following topics:
Ideology,
propaganda, political parties and organizations: The totalitarian experience in
the 20th;
European
right wing: Italian fascism, Nazism;
Stalin’s
Great Terror;
The Comintern
and Communist Parties in Europe;
International
relations: Western Communist Parties’ and the Communist Party in the Soviet
Union;
Political,
economic, social, and cultural evolutions in the Soviet bloc after World War II;
"Stalinisation”
versus „destalinisation”;
East-West
relations during the Cold War;
Détente:
the perspectives of cooperation;
Opposition
to totalitarianism: From resistance to dissent;
The papers may be submitted in English, French, Russian, and Romanian.
The contributors are kindly asked to send abstracts (up to 500 words)
and a short narrative cv until April 1, 2012.
Institutul Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului are plăcerea să vă invite
miercuri, 16 noiembrie, la ora 11.00, la lansarea volumului de documente intitulat
"Foametea, piatiletka şi ferma colectivă: documente diplomatice româneşti, 1926-1936"
autor drd. Vadim Guzun
Vor lua cuvântul prof. dr. Radu Ciuceanu, director al INST, conf. univ. dr. Octavian Roske, secretar ştiinţific al INST, prof. dr. Vasile Buga, dr. Dan Cătănuş şi dr. Vitalie Văratic.
Lansarea va avea loc la sediul INST din strada Arh. Grigore Cerchez, nr. 16, sector 1, Bucureşti. Tel. 021 2306992;
email: inst.academia@gmail.com
Publicarea lucrării "Foametea, piatiletka şi ferma colectivă: documente diplomatice româneşti, 1926-1936"
reprezintă un exerciţiu de recuperare a defazajului din mediul academic
din România pe segmentul care acoperă perioada de formare şi
consolidare a regimului stalinist. Documentele tematice inedite, pe care
le-a identificat Vadim Guzun în Arhivele Diplomatice ale Ministerului
Afacerilor Externe, acoperă cele trei politici esenţiale ale aşa-numitei
"revoluţii staliniste de sus" - înfometarea în masă, planul cincinal
(piatiletka) şi colectivizarea forţată a ţăranilor. Rapoartele,
analizele şi sintezele diplomaţiei de la Bucureşti relevă suficient de
clar modul în care aceste instrumente politice au asigurat
"modernizarea" imperiului sovietic. Rezultatul dramatic al
experimentelor totalitare care fac obiectul volumului a constat în
exterminarea a milioane de oameni nevinovaţi, iar modelul acestora a
fost aplicat, într-o primă etapă, provinciilor româneşti anexate de
Uniunea Sovietică, iar ulterior, României şi altor state europene.
Vadim
Guzun este doctorand al Academiei Române, diplomat în Ministerul Român
al Afacerilor Externe. Interesat de formarea regimului sovietic,
relaţiile româno-sovietice şi politici de sovietizare, autorul a mai
publicat, recent, volumul "Marea foamete sovietică", sub egida
Institutului "George Bariţiu" din Cluj-Napoca.
Review of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism
Volume XVIII Number 68-69 Winter 2010
Radu Ciuceanu, History as ballast, XXXV. A correspondence at least strange: Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin, VI, p. 5-11
During World War II besides battlefields there were also high level confrontation strategies not only among enemies, but also allies. The article tries to decipher the hidden meanings of 1942 discussions between the allied leaders: W. Churchill, I.V. Stalin and F.D. Roosevelt concerning the opening of new fronts against Nazi Germany.
Keywords: Europe, World War II, allies, Nazi Germany, operation „Torch”.
Dorin-Demostene Iancu , Alfred Rosenberg on Nazism and Christianism, p. 12-20.
Alfred Rosenberg was one of the most important Nazi leaders. From his position within the regime he had an important opportunity to act against Christianity. The main causes of his way of thinking, the developement of his ideas, Hitler’s reaction, the way Goebbels actioned towards Rosenberg’s person and ideological thoughts are very important in understanding the impact over the Christians’ situation in Nazi Germany. The hatred against the Jews, which led to mass murder was one of the reasons Christianity was atacked and Jesus Christ himself disconsidered.
Rosenberg did not admit that he was wrong, not even at his trial, althought he had the chance. He died by hanging and he is known as the main Nazi ideologist beside Adolf Hitler.
Ioana Maria Cozma, Forms of Communist Propaganda in electoral campaigns, 1946-1948.A case study: Cluj county, p. 21-33
Since its first days of existence in the Soviet Union, one of the top priorities of the new communist regime was to create a new man, as part of a larger process of reevaluation of all values, necessary in order to create a brand new world. To accomplish this task, the Communist Party used on a massive scale, for the first time in world history, the instrument of the propaganda. In Romania, a country in which the process of stalinisation started on the 6th of March 1945, the first post-war elections offered a good opportunity for the communist propaganda machine to test its effectiveness, taking in consideration the consequences of the results of these elections for the Romanian Communist Party. This article explores the problems, results, ways of action and manifestation of the then-borning communist propaganda, with the occasion of the first two general elections in Romania after the Second World War.
Narcis Popescu, Propaganda and satellization: The Party School of Social Sciences „A.A. Jdanov”,1948-1958, p. 34-46
This research study approaches the Sovietisation of Romania. The auspices under which the process of sovietization took place were specific to Stalinism. Using mainly the documents from National Archives „Propaganda and Agitation Party Department”, the article emphasizes the evolution of one of the most important instruments of Sovietization: The Party School of Social Sciences „A.A. Jdanov”.
Keywords: Communism, R.C.P., the Party School of Social Sciences „A.A. Jdanov”, political elites.
Mihaela Verzea, Theorizing the concept of Party-State: historiographical landmarks (I), p. 47-60
The aim of this article is to present the political regime of the State Party from the point of view of the hallmark political structures. This theoretical study exploits sources of foreign authors, concerned in presenting the institutional frame specific to the left totalitarian governments, starting first of all from the analysis of the Marxist-Leninist ideology and of the inspiration model, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Keywords: State-Party, Marxism-Leninism, Communist Party of Soviet Union, political structures.
Ana Maria Cătănuş, The Phenomenon of Disidence in Soviet Union, 1965-1989, p. 61-85.
Soviet dissidence in its golden years, 1965-1982, was one of the most interesting episodes of the Post Stalin regime in Soviet Union.
With a wide range of manifestations form literary dissidence to the movement of human rights, Soviet dissidence played an important role not only in denouncing the abuses of power but also in forging new thinking models at society level. Focusing on R.S.F.S.R human right movement, the article defines concepts such as dissidence-dissident, emphasizes the types of dissident activity and portrays some of the emblematic figures of Soviet dissidence.
Keywords: Soviet Union, RSFSR, Communism, dissidence, human rights.
Ö. Kovács József, The historical experience of violence in political dictatorship, p. 86-105.
Conducting an interdisciplinary analysis, the author focuses on the phenomenon of violence in modern and contemporary history. Therefore, the features of political dictatorship of the XX century (National-Socialism and Communism) are placed in the forefront of the research. An analytical presentation of historiography dedicated to post 1945 East-Germany dictatorship finds its place within this comprehensive subject. The author of the article also approaches the connections between contemporary experiences regarding violence, memorizing traumas and taboos.
Keywords: GDR, Communism, violence, dictatorship.
Puica Buhoci, History and fraud, I, p. 106-125.
The publication of documents from the archives of former Securitate (CNSAS) concerning the National Resistance Movement in Oltenia has been a constant focus of the research programmes of NIST. The article we publish is a case study of how history can be manipulated by the mysterious disappearance from the archives of a document that has been previously published in the book The National Resistance Movement in Oltenia, volume V, edited by Radu Ciuceanu and Puica Buhoci in 2007. The author publishes not only the authenticated copy of the missing document but also new sources that prove beyond doubt the veridical character of document’s content.
Keywords: Romania, Anti-communism, the National Resistance Movement, Securitate.
Florin Abraham, Between moral and legal: the issue of responsibility from the perspective of the Romanian lustration law, p. 126-140.
The study analyses the issue of responsibility within the communist regimes from the perspective of the Romanian lustration law. The research is structured around three sub-themes: the relation between guilt and sanction in democratic regimes; a succinct analysis of the lustration issue in Europe; a presentation of the initiatives concerning the adoption of a lustration law in Romania; the concrete analysis of the responsibility issue in light of the law adopted by the Romanian Parliament in 2010. The main conclusion of the analysis is that the responsibility concerning the establishment and preservation of the communist regime cannot be treated in terms of collective guilt, as provided by the lustration law, but can be attributed to some individuals or groups that commonly participated in taking some decisions. Therefore, punishments must be applied according to direct, concrete and undisputed responsibilities, by means of trials in which the accused can plead their innocence.
Raluca Spiridon, A Vision of the Law and Order in 1929 Romania: the Law of the State Police, p. 141-166
The explanatory memorandum that precedent the General Law on the organization of the state police 21 July 1929 brings into focus the fundamental principles that gave rise to the major reorganization of the work order and information.
The document is important in that it reworks the history of the institution and the relationship between politics and administration, presented the issue obscured and distorted in the communist era.
Keywords: law enforcement, interwar Romania, democracy, public service.
Vasile Buga, Comintern Standpoint and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, p. 167-180
The analytic material written by the researchers from the Institute of Marxism Leninism of PCUS’ Central Committee and the International Section of CC of PCUS presents the confusion created among Comintern’s Communist parties by the signing on 23 august 1939 of the Non-aggression Treaty between Soviet Union and fascist Germany. The document emphasizes in what way Stalin’s indications affected the orientation of Communist parties in a crucial moment of the battle against fascist peril.
Florin Şandru, The Comintern and the Romanian Communists as seen by the Police Department of the Capital City, 1941, II, p. 181-196
The article reproduces the second part of the work The unmasking of Communism in Romaniacompiled in 1941 by police commissioner Nicolae Turcu. Outlawed by the Romanian authorities RCP continued to spread its ideology through legal camouflaged established organizations. These organizations had as a purpose the protection of social and professional rights of social categories such as syndicats, students, lawyers, writers, the achievement political objectives of national minorities or fighting for principles such as peace, disarmament, antifascism. Shortly after they had been created, all these organizations set up upon the Comitern’s indications and considered to be a menace for state safety were declared illegal by the authorities.
Dan Cătănuş, Party discipline and former Communists in illegality. The case of Constantin Agiu, 1955, p. 197-219
In October 1955, Constantin Agiu, former Communist activist in illegality, was subjected to investigation by a Party Commission. The investigation was related to the discussions Agiu had after 1953 with general Ion Eremia and other Communist Party members from illegality times. The participants to these discussions encouraged by the “new course” promoted by Moscow raised some issues related to the economic policy of RCP, selection and promotion of Party cadres, the repression some party members were subjected to. In spite the intimidation, Agiu sustained that “no one can stop the public to judge things for themselves and discuss them openly”.
Keywords: Romania, Communism, RWP, factionism.
Octavian Roske, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXIX, p. 220-231
The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivization of agriculture between 1957 and 1962. The testimonies selected in this issue illustrate the diverse means of repression the communist authorities used in order to step up the collectivization process in Romania after 1957.
Keywords: Romania, collectivization, repression
Carmen Rădulescu, Uniunea Arhitecţilor din R.P.R./R.S.R., p. 232-239
The Union of Architects in R.P.R./R.S.R was the architects’ mass organization that guided its members’ activity during the Communist regime. Set up in November 1952 after the Soviet model of creation unions, the Union of Architects in R.P.R./R.S.R functioned in the same framework until April 1990 when it was reorganized according the Law 127/24 April 1990. During the ’50’s, the evolution of architecture was dramatically influenced by the ideological and political factors, while the only tolerated architectural style was the one Soviet inspiration, socialist realist, which was applied in all cultural domaines. Therefor, art became state art, serving the interests of state and politcs.
Keywords: Romania, Communism, Arhitecture, Socialist Realism, Unions of creation.
Alexandru-Murad Mironov, Writers’ Union of Romanian People’s Republic/Socialist Republic of Romania, p.239-243
Professional association of writers in Socialist Romania, Writers’ Union has been a real Ministry of Literature between 1948 and 1989. Copying a Soviet model, this specific organization of the Communist regime managed not only the needs of writers, but also helped in strenghtening the party control over the arts. Without the coercitive force of the State, the Writers’ Union distributed all the benefits: houses, trips, access to special stores, resorts (including former Royal castles) and reserved restaurants. Further more, the institution was the only legal collector of copyrights, on behalf of creators. These financial assets largely rewarded all those who ideologically served the regime.
Ana-Maria Rădulescu, Nifon Criveanu (1889-1970), p. 245-249
Nifon Criveanu (1889-1970), bishop of Husi (1933-1939) and metropolitan of Oltenia (1939-1945), was the first Orthodox Romanian hierarch who was discarded from his position by the Communist regime. The reason for his removal was related to his symphaties towards Antonescu’s regime and his missionary and „antisoviet”activity in Transnistria between 1942-1943.
Recent discovered documents, such as autobiographical materials, verbal and written testimonies of those who knew Ion Totu, led to the reconstruction of a thorough biography of Totu. Although he worked in executive and party structures, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, he considered himself more in the terms of a macro economy specialist. That was the reason for Totu to be appointed First Deputy Prime Minister to coordinate the activities and the economic-financial institutions.
Va invitam sa vizitati standul Institutului Naţional pentru Studiul Totalitarismului deschis in cadrul targului de carte Polemos, Cercul Militar, 20 - 23 octombrie 2010.
Puteti cumpara la preturi fara concurenta numere din revista Arhivele Totalitarismului, precum si volume publicate de institutul nostru.
ACAD. DAN BERINDEI, The Breakdown of the Communism – Miracle or Inexorable Phenomenon
After 70 years of existence the „Soviet empire” collapsed. What led to the disappearence of the Soviet system was not a military defeat but its incapacity to keep the pace with the economical advance of the Western world.
The breakdown of the Communism was seen as a miracle by millions of people whose lives changed profoundly. Besides this perception, the change in system was also an inexorable phenomenon imposed by the laws of history. According to these laws oppression makes people fight for their freedom and a coercitive system can function only as long as it is economically and socially viable. Once the collapse began, it could not be stopped. That was the way the Communist system broke down and all Eastern European nations won back their freedom.
Dan Berindei - Historian, vice president of the RomanianAcademy. Member of the Scientific Board of NIST.
CATALIN-VALENTIN RAIU, The Principle and the Practice of Subsidiarity in Romanian Orthodoxy. I. The Interwar Period
Ortodoxy and subsidiarity are two visions that focus on the human person. Orthodox Churches should support the subsidiarity principle, as a framework for the dignity of human person, as Andrei Saguna’s statute provided. The option for a too
hierarchical Church in the post-communist period overlooks all debates on subsidiarity, although the Romanian context keeps the memory of subsidiarity stored in the interbelic trunck.
Catalin-Valentin Raiu, graduated from the Faculty of Theology, University of Bucharest; Ph.D candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Bucharest with the thesis „The Monography of the Bishop of Râmnic Noului Severin, Vartolomeiu Stănescu (1875-1954)”.
ROMINA SURUGIU, Revisions and Addenda: Constantin Radulescu-Motru on Romanian Culture in the Post-War Period27
The personal notebooks („Revisions and addenda”, 1943-1952) of the Romanian philosopher Constantin Radulescu-Motru, represent a rich research material for studying the Romanian culture after the Second World War. The thinker, who lived the last decade of his life during the Communist regime, felt the need to explain, revise and re-analyze his philosophical and political ideas and attitudes. His notebooks, first published only 40 years after his death, contain valuable and interesting information, relevant for a proper understanding of the Romanian culture, society and their destiny after the events on August, 23, 1944.
Romina Surugiu, PhD in Philosophy, she is a university lecturer within the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, University of Bucharest.
ACAD. PĂUN ION OTIMAN, The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture
This paper is an overview of the main political, legal, and institutional frameworks in which the Communist regime, seating in Romania from 1945, imposed the collectivization of agriculture to the Romanian peasantry. The author points out also on human sufferings of that Soviet-inspired policies. Mentioning the countless number of victims, the collectivization destroyed the normal development of the Romanian agriculture with difficult consequences to this day.
Păun Ioan Otiman – secretary-general of the RomanianAcademy.
DAN CATANUS, The Agrarian Component of „the Right Deviation” inside the R.C.P., 1951-1952
During a meeting with a R.C.P. delegation, in March 1951, Stalin made accusations that in Romania there was an „unmarxist peasant policy”. Next year, Gheorghiu-Dej would use this accusation, related to the advantageous fiscal protection for peasant, which didn’t apply to workers, to generate „the matter of right deviation” and to eliminate his main opponents: Ana Pauker, Vasile Luca and Teohari Georgescu. Although lacking serious grounds, the theory of „enriched peasants” would have as results a harsher tax regime on peasants and the intensification of agricultural collectivization.
Dan Cătănuş, PhD in History, is senior researcher with N.I.S.T.; Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communism Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).
Ö. KOVÁCS JÓZSEF, The Social History of Collectivization in Hungary, 1958-1961
In 1958-1961 a second wave of collectivization hit the Hungarian peasant household. In order to achieve their goals the Communist authorities used propagandistic tools as well as physical and psychologically violence against peasant who refused to join the agricultural cooperatives. The article presents the methods used by the Communist regime in Budapest in order to achieve collectivization and the consequences this phenomenon had on the economical and social situation of the peasants as well on their state of mind.
Ö. Kovács József is lecturer within the Faculty of History, MiskolcUniversity. Presently he studies the history of political dictatorship and the rural societies in Hungary. Recent volumes: Introduction in social history (co-author and coordinator, 2003 and 2006), The paths of German social history in Modern Age (co-author and coordinator, 2004), The spreading of political dictatorship in social area (co-author, 2009).
IRINA GRIDAN, Parallelisms and Convergences. I.Gh. Maurer in Paris in the Summer of 1964: Realpolitik and the Offensive of the Smile (III)
This article is a first installment of a series devoted to the French-Romanian relations in the 60’s. The author pursues to throw light on the mechanisms set in motion after the diplomatic negotiations, leading to rapprochement between Bucharest and Paris by the middle of the decade. This year 1964 was a crucial moment for the Romanian-French rapprochement. The article focuses on the visit of the Romanian Prime-Minister, Ion Gh. Maurer, in France, in the summer of 1964 and its immediate results. One of the most important moment of the visit was the meeting between Maurer and the President of the FrenchRepublic, General De Gaulle.
Irina Gridan is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Assistant professor at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. PhD candidate with a theme devoted to Romanian-Soviet relations between 1950 and 1960, under the guidance of Marie-Pierre Rey.
DRAGOS ZAMFIRESCU, “Perestroika” and „glasnost” in the Soviet Union or the Preliminaries of the Breakdown of the Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe
Perestroika and glasnost, initiated in the Soviet Union by the new leader Michail Gorbachev in mid ’80’s created the premises for democratic reforms in East-Central Europe countries and also led to the 1989 antitotalitarian revolutions. Although most of the Communist countries adopted perestroika, that was not the case for Romania whereCeausescu tried very hard to resist to what the Romanian leadership called to be „the fatal influences of Gorbachev’s reforms”.
Dragos Zamfirescu, PhD in History; he is specialized in Romanian right extremism in the interwar period and totalitarian models in the postwar period.
PETRE OPRIS,Nicolae Ceausescu and his Political Illusion: the Simultaneous Abolishment of NATO and the Warsaw Treaty138
Ceausescu’s political image in the West had been seriously affected by the Romanian economical crisis and the austerity measures that the Romanians had to deal with. Ceausescu’s idea of simultaneous abolishment of NATO and the Warsaw Treaty, his ambition to reimburse the entire Romania’s external debt and his refusal to contract new external credit contracts affected the way Western political and military leaders perceived Romania.
Petre Opris is PhD in History, lieutenant colonel (r). Recent book Romania in the Organizationof Warsaw Treaty (1955-1991), Military Publishing House, 2008.
FLORIN ABRAHAM, The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania – a Process of Societal Transformation151
The author analyses the process of collectivization from a broader period perspective, by emphasizing the consequences of land reforms of 1864, 1921 and 1945. The study achieves a structural analysis of collectivization (duration, intensity, dynamics, methods) as well as its consequences at psycho-cultural and demographic level. The last part of the study is dedicated to a concise presentation of the situation in agriculture after 1989, emphasizing the failure of the rural space modernization project and of structuring an agricultural field that would overcome the logic of a subsistence economy.
Florin Abraham is Ph.D in History; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romania’s Transformation: 1989-2006. The Foreign Factors Role, 2006.
ION CONSTANTIN,Parallel Destinies: Romania and Poland Facing the Totalitarianisms of the XX century
In 1918, both Poland and Romania shared a similar destiny: they became victims of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Non Aggression Treaty and were invaded by the Soviet Union at the beginning of the War World II. After the war ended both countries were economically and military integrated into organizations created by the Soviets: the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (1949) and the Warsaw Treaty (1955). Unlike Poland, in Romania there wasn’t a real process of destalinization. The rise of Polish Solidarnosc, in August 1980, generated reactions throughout the world. In spite of the Romanian Communistregime repressiveness, Iulius Filip, a military master in Cluj-Napoca, sent a letter of solidarity to the Polish Sindicate.
Ion Constantin is Ph.D. in History, research scholar with NIST; former Romanian diplomat. Recent book: The Katyn Massacres, N.I.S.T., 2008 (co-author).
OCTAVIAN ROSKE, The Collectivization of Agriculture. Total Repression, 1957-1962, XXVII
The documents continue the series of historical accounts of the final stage of collectivisation of agriculture between 1958 and 1962. In that case, the abuses are objectively reflected by documents from Moldavia.
Octavian Roske, Ph.D., is senior researcher, Scientific Secretary of the NIST and associate professor with the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. Recent books: Repressive Mechanisms in Romania, 1945-1989. Biographical Dictionary, vol. VIII: S-Ş, 2009 (coordinator).
CRISTINA DIAC, The Last Victim of the Collectivization of Agriculture: The Case of Ilie Tugui, 1963-1964
In 1963, Ilie Tugui, who was at that time officer at a miltary unit in Targu Mures, sent two anonymous letters to the Television and to „Scanteia”, R.C.P. main journal. Using a poetical and literary language, Tugui criticized the policy of the Great Powers, including the Soviet Union toward the small countries and also talked about the effects of„the socialist transformation of agriculture”. The author was sentenced to seven years in prison, was incancerated in Targu Mures penitentiary and died on April 1, 1964, the official cause of death was suicide by hanging. The documents that were available to historians in order to retrace Tugui’s case were mainly produced by the prosecution. This situation have turned Tugui’s case into one illustrative of the limits of recent history sources.
Cristina Diac is PhD candidate, University of Bucharest; assistant researcher with N.I.S.T.
VASILE BUGA, A hot summer in Romanian-Soviet Relations. The Moscow talks, July 1964,I
The adoption of the R.C.P. Declaration in April 1964 generated a profound crisis at the level of Romanian-Soviet relations. In order to ease the tensions between the two parts, a R.C.P. delegation headed by Ion Gheorghe Maurer went to Moscow where several rounds of meetings with the Soviet counterpart took place.Both the Sovroms and Bessarabia were listed on the issues most vividly discussed.
Vasile Buga is Ph.D, senior researcher with N.I.S.T., coordinator of the Russian and SovietStudiesCenter. Recent book: The Fall of the Empire. The Soviet Union in Gorbachev Era, 1985-1989, N.I.S.T., 2007.
ANA-MARIA CATANUS,Mihai Botez on Intellectuals and the European Cultural Space
Mihai Botez was a mathematician, a researcher in future studies and also one of the most important Romanian dissidents. The document we publish is an essay that Botez wrote in 1985 for a conference organized in Madrid on the topic of European cultural space. His text, entitledIntellectual, intellectuals and spaces without frontiers – an Eastern approach, discusses the problem of barriers blocking the free circulation of people and ideas. In his paper, Mihai Botez emphasizes also the fact that the Western world had a distorted imagine of the Communist countries and in order to promote an Europe united through ideas, intellectuals had to become autonomous. Botez also talks about the need for activation in Eastern Europe of the largest part of intellectuals, those situated between the „aligned” intellectuals and the dissidents.
Ana-Maria Catanus is PhD candidate and a researcher with N.I.S.T. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).
ION ILIESCU,1971 – The Year of Ideological Changes in Romania II
On June 9, 2009, the former president Ion Iliescu presented in N.I.S.T. a lecture regarding the causes and consequences of the ideological change that Nicolae Ceausescu initiated in the summer of1971. The article presents the second part of the conference dedicated to discussions.
Ion Iliescu – president of Romania (1990-1992, 1992-1996, 2000-2004).
FLOREA DUMITRESCU, The Economic and Social Evolution in the Romanian Society in the ’60’s –’80’s, XX century
In this article, Florea Dumitrescu, former Minister of Finance and Governer of the National Bank during the Communist regime discusses a series of elements that founded Romania’s developemnt policyin the ’60’s –’80’s, XX century.
If initially the credits from the I.M.F. and the World Bank had an important role in Romanian economical development, afterwards the decision of the Romanian leadership to reimburse in advance the external debt created a lot of tensions in the realm of the national economy. The restrictive measures taken by the government in 1980-1989 led to an excessive depreciation of industrial equipment, decreasing the production quality and the diminishing of workers’ revenues.
Florea Dumitrescu – Minister of Finance, 1969-1978; he conducted the negociations with the I.M.F. and the World Bank; Governor of the National Bank, 1984 - March 1989; ambassador in China.
ION BAURCEANU, Remembrances from Aiud
Ion Baurceanu was born in 1931 in Comanesti-Covurlui – Galati. He was arrested in 1951, subjected to a trial for anticommunist activity and sentenced to 15 years of forced labor, 5 years of civic degradation by the Bucharest Military Court.He was improsoned at Jilava, the lead mines from Baia Sprie and Cavnic, Aiud-Zarca, Gherla-Zarca, Periprava, Galati. He was pardoned in 1964, while he was imprisoned at Jilava. The article we publish respresent a short rememberance of his passing through the penitentiary of extermination from Aiud.
Ion Baurceanu is a former political prisoner.
ALEXANDRU-MURAD MIRONOV, State Committee for Nuclear Energy
This material is a part of a research project entitled The Communist Regime Encyclopedia in Romania: The Institutions.
This material is a part of a research project entitled The Communist Regime Encyclopedia in Romania: The Institutions.
From 1955 and until 1990, the State Committee for Nuclear Energy was the Romanian official organization granted with full powers over coordinating, budgeting and controlling the development of atomic research and production on national scale. The Communist regime strongly encouraged this industry, first as a tool of economical modernization, then – during Nicolae Ceauşescu’s leadership – as a part of the envisaged autarchy. However, the centralization of the political decision in the area proved to be highly efficient, allowing a remarkable development of atomic and nuclear domain in Romania.
Alexandru-Murad Mironov is an assistant professor within History Department of the University of Bucharest; a Ph.D. student; senior researcher with the NIST. Recent book: Romanian Intellectuals in the Communist Archives, Nemira, 2006 (co-author).
FLORIN-RAZVAN MIHAI,The Commission of State Control
In 1949-1961, in Romania functioned the Commission of State Control (C.S.C.), which controlled the activity of the ministeries, the state institutions, economical organizations, executive organs of local state power, as well as mass organizations and military units.The Commission was subordinated to the Council of Ministers and was conducted by a chairman.
Florin-Razvan Mihai is research assistant with NIST. MA in International Relations, Faculty of History, University of Bucharest.
FLORI BALANESCU, Adriana Georgescu (1920-2005)
A law graduate, Adriana Georgescu was also a movie critic at „Universul literar” and nurse in a military hospital. In 1943 the Gestapo hunted her because of the chronicles she wrote of the German movies presented in the theaters from Bucharest. After 23 August 1944 she became a political reporter for the journal „Viitorul” and soonshe worked with the Prime Minister Nicolae Radescu as his secretary.Adriana Georgescu was arrested on 29 July 1945. She was brutally tortured (her head hit by the walls, whipped with a sleeve filled with sand), drugged and raped in order to transform her in a traitor used for condemning the liberal figures. Adriana Georgescu was sentenced, set free and then arrested again A. Georgescu succeeded in fleeing to West with the help of some friends. She died on 29 October 2005, in Stevenage, England.
Flori Balanescu – Researcher with NIST. Recent volume: Flori Stanescu – Paul Goma, Dialogue, Vremea Publishing House, 2008.
CRISTINA DIAC, Manea Mănescu (1916-2009)
After the 1989 revolution, Manea Mănescu was portrayed as an example of total obedience of Ceausescu couple. Neither his former colleagues remembered him differently, as seen in their memories. This is why certain biographical details extractedfrom Manea Mănescu’s R.C.P. cadre file may come as a surprise.
ANA-MARIA CATANUS, On liberty
This is a review of two books Seghei Dovlatov’s book The Compromise, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009 and Venedikt Erofeev’s bookMoscova-Petuşki, Cartier Publishing House, 2004.
CRISTINA DIAC,Dinu C. Giurescu, spectator of his own destiny: From Sovrom Constructions 6 to Romanian AcademyThis is a review of Dinu C. Giurescu’s book From Sovrom Constructions 6 to RomanianAcademy. Memories. Testimonies, Bucharest, Meronia, Publishing House 2008.
